The dreadful true tale of the Roman Emperor Caligula is slightly modified in the Victor Mature vehicle Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), wherein the tale of a man exalted beyond all reason, to the stature of a God, and his subsequent removal from power and life, is augmented by the addition of an institution renowned for its early humility and tangible poverty: Christianity. Demetrius (Mature) is a Christian, a former soldier and former slave, now freeman, who, in defending the honor of Lucia, a Christian woman who he may love, strikes a Roman guard. He is sentenced to gladiator school, but immediately earns the displeasure of the master of the gladiator school (Ernest Borgnine), and is consigned to the arena the next day.
In the arena, his opponent, Glycon (William Marshall), a former King, admires his spirit and they attempt to fight such a fight that they’ll both be freed, but they are not up to the task. The injured Glycon is removed and tigers are released to finish off Demetrius, but he emerges victorious from their brutal attacks (it was amusing to see the stunt double wrestling with the juvenile tigers, stabbing them repeatedly without bringing any blood, and eventually walking away from tiger-dummies).
Messalina (Susan Hayward), wife of an uncle of the Emperor, takes a shine to Demetrius, and when she discovers that the woman who saved him, Lucia, has infiltrated the school as a whore available to men who may die the next day in the arena, she commands that Demetrius will not fight the next day – and therefore is separated from Lucia. He is locked in a cell, from where he sees Lucia killed by one of the other gladiators, Dardanius, who is forcing himself upon her.
Thus his faith is broken. His descent through the valley of despair is long and dark in spiritual terms, even if in tangible terms it becomes bright and successful, for he destroys Dardanius in the arena, followed by several more gladiators who attack him en masse; for this feat, he is inducted into the Emperor’s guard at a high rank, and earns the amorous advances of Messalina. But he becomes short-tempered, impetuous, and intemperate in both sex and drink, a man without an inner compass.
Meanwhile, Caligula (gloriously played by Jay Robinson), grows madder and more paranoid as time passes, and eventually discovers the trysts of Messalina and Demetrius. In order to deflect his suspicions, Messalina owns up to the reappearance of the Apostle Peter in Rome, and Caligula is reminded of the Robe of Jesus, which had been the original goal of the soldier struck by Demetrius. Demetrius (and others) are sent in search of Peter and robe, and of course Demetrius knows where to go: the Christian sector.
There he finds Peter (performed by an excellent face by the name of Michael Rennie) and demands the Robe. Peter denies him not, conducting him to the robe, where it’s clutched by …
Lucia.
Yes, that Lucia who had died. In a bit of dramatic subterfuge, it turns out she was badly hurt, but not dead, and even in her coma will not let go of the robe. Demetrius collapses in tears, finding his love saved from both ravishment and death (but why should death be so fearful in these circumstances?), and begs forgiveness. In that moment, all the worldly success melts away and his heart is once again filled with humility and goodness, and Lucia awakens. But the fun’s not over!
As a tribune, he returns the robe to the Emperor, who bids him to stay where he is. Caligul takes it to the dungeon, has a prisoner killed, and then tries to raise him from the dead using the power of the robe. Sadly for the prisoner, whatever power the robe might have is not a tangible power, and the prisoner remains a corpse.
Caligula returns and accuses Demetrius of defrauding him, to which Demetrius says, “No one said it was magic!” But now he is returned to the arena, to fight the finest gladiator ever, the master of the gladiator school. With the Emperor’s Guard as the audience, as a Christian (Reformed), the Big D refuses to fight and is clunked on the head by his opponent. The Guard infuriates the Emperor by protesting the punishment to be meted out, and eventually both the master of the school and the Emperor are killed by thrown spears.
Mature is a fine actor, but in this sweaty little number he’s out-acted by those filling the roles of Caligula, Messalina, Peter, and Glycon; Mature simply does not emote at the levels called for. But he is surely at least adequate, and the film is not a failure for it. The action is sometimes not believable, in particular the spear throws and the tiger battle, but on the other hand the stage combat is admirably well done – particularly when Mature must battle several gladiators at once, he really does have to move quickly and parry twice as fast as his attackers must, and if the others perhaps fall over too easily, what of it? This is a difficult choreography for the 1950s, and it goes over well.
For all that, I was not particularly moved, perhaps because we watched it over several days. It’s very competent, and no doubt moving to those more disposed towards its lessons. And I have failed to draw any parallels between Caligula and any of our current Presidential contenders, which may be just as well.
